For centuries, mankind has wanted to go to Mars. But the costs to go there are huge, the fuel has to last for months, and not anybody would be willing to spend years away from Earth.
To make things worse, it’s not fully known how an astronaut would behave for so much time away from home and on another planet. Both physical, physiological, and psychological aspects need to be taken into account. But since going to Mars is complicated for the moment, why not bring Mars to us? In other words, sending robots to the Red Planets to perform work on behalf of humans remains a great idea. That’s precisely what space agencies have already done.
Tianwen-1 snaps beautiful photos of Mars
Tianwen-1 is the rover of the China National Space Administration. The spacecraft reached the Red Planet in May 2021, and it already snapped some beautiful photos of the space object:
Happy New Year from Mars. Finally we got some new images from #Tianwen1 and #Zhurong rover pic.twitter.com/8dN41esS1r
— Tianwen-1 | Deep Space Exploration of China (@CNDeepSpace) January 1, 2022
The Tianwen-1 rover has been doing its job very well until now. Sun Zezhou, the chief system designer, confirms it as quoted by Space.com:
The orbiter is currently orbiting Mars in very good condition. We can see our orbiter flying around Mars in a working state, and we can clearly see the solar panel wings, directional antenna and some of the antenna facilities in orbit.
China is not the only country that sent robots to explore the Red Planet up close. NASA did likewise, and perhaps its Perseverance rover is the one deserving the most attention during these times. In late December, NASA presented a video highlighting the achievements of its Perseverance rover.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA released the following explanation:
A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover is characterizing the planet’s geology and past climate and paving the way for human exploration of the Red Planet. Perseverance is the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).
Hopefully, the first astronauts will reach Mars by the end of the current decade.